Take The Gun Away From Me

No...REALLY! Someone needs to pry the "glue gun" from my fingers.

It all started with that darn Super Saturday last weekend. And I can't help painting, gluing, decorating things around the house.

So in the end I've given myself a little gift for the new boy entering our family in July. Now he has a blinged-out wipey box.

Completely Necessary.

Energetic & Spirited

This is Emma.
She is full of imagination
and helpful to a fault.

I can always count on her.
And for the past year she has waited
and waited to go to school.

Graciously she has put up with
preschool 2-days a week,
but I can tell she is bored.
I try, but having 2 younger siblings
and a prego mom doesn't make
for much fun.

It's too bad she missed the cut-off
date by 12 days.
Hopefully it will make her top of the
class!

Here's to you Emma.
Keira & Ben's favorite entertainer!

Let's Try That Again

Do any of you remember this little craft project?

I have had that blue flower for ages.
And it's been used for many things.
A decoration here, a cake topper there,
a center piece...blah blah blah.

And of course the worst mistake...
as an accessory for a bald baby's head.

But now, I think I've finally found it's true calling!

Ever since Sydney was born
and now that
my home has become 75% female,
we've been collecting bows.

I've been eying this cute little wall decoration
that some smart mom whipped up.

It's a ribbon with a weight in the bottom
that you can clip the bows to
and hang up on the wall.

Seriously a wicked cool idea.
Especially if you've tried to search a
shoebox under the bathroom sink in
a rush to finish your daughters hair!

And for some odd reason last night,
when all was quiet,
I heated up the hot glue gun and went to town.

Refridgerator Worthy

During spring break Larry took off with some co-workers to a Criminal Defense CLE down in south Texas.

(CLE = continuing learning education)

To keep a license to practice, for attorneys and doctors, Larry has to have a specific amount of hours accumulated throughout each year. Although being gone for a wk wasn't tempting but it put him "fulfilled" on CLE hours until 2012.

With a large crowd of attorneys gathered at a college campus they were quickly put into groups based on the amount of trial experience. Larry was shocked to find that he was near the top. Considering this photo he's like 10 yrs younger then most of his fellow associates. Intimidating for the average person, but not for Larry. He just rises to the occasion and shocks them all with his BIG BRAIN!

Good job Honey!! You're HOT STUFF!!

A New Modeling Career

This is what happens when you tell
a 3 yr-old to smile for a picture.

#1

#2

#3

#4

And there ain't no way of fixin' it!

Super Saturday

... is what our women group at church
calls a day filled with doing crafts together.

And today was perfect.
Friends, Food, and Abundant Amounts
of projects!

This time I didn't sign up for much,
instead I got to offer up layman's advice
on the projects being offered.

But I did squeeze in some painting on the side
to make this little beauty!

Pucker Up

Hi, I'm Keira.

Wanna kiss?

Come over here for a smooch!

Hold on, I see something sparkly in the garden.

You can kiss me on top of my head!
I'm a little shy.

Forget it, maybe my big sis will do it?

Green Thumb

Now that we've settled into the house
and have mainly finished with the
inside decorating,
Larry and I have become motivated
to start on the outside.

We've been bouncing ideas around for ages
about doing this or doing that,
but what it comes down to is time.
With the kids and other responsibilities
it seems to take everything to
line up PERFECTLY to get us
working outside.

My biggest worry has become energy.
Because lately my cup is 1/2 empty
and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to
help with water, planting or any of the upkeep.
Plus it seems I need Larry's help to pull
1/2 my work load too and I wasn't sure
I would be willing to share him with
the weeds, lawn and flowers.

But Larry couldn't be stopped.
He inspired us all to pull weeds in the evenings,
plant flowers in the front yard
and then he "jimmy-ed" a garden box
for the back yard too.

I know we are a little late in the season,
but at least we'll try!

Sydney's 1st Grade Program

I SPY...

...a blue fin!

I SPY...

...a tail!!

I SPY...

...a flying dolphin!!

Sydney and her fellow classmates put on
a beautiful program about life under the sea.

Sydney had a rather difficult part,
by saying the composer's name...
it was FRENCH!

The students were told to wear blue
OR
dress up like a sea animal.
Sydney first wanted to be a mermaid,
but took my advice and went with
a dolphin.

The music instructor had a great idea
to have the kids hold blue pompom's
and wave them around in time to the music
to make it look like waves.

Shake it!

Wave it!

But we were really surprised when Sydney
and a few students went down to
some xylophones played a song.

We were completely SHOCKED!
Sydney kept us in the dark the whole time.
Never telling us of her special part.
We are very proud of her.

Good Job!!

Countdown.

12 weeks.

Me likey.

Diggin' In Her Heels

Keira has been giving Larry and I a run for the $$ lately.

This little squirt KNOWS something is changing
in the family and she doesn't like it one,
SINGLE
BIT.

She used to be that kid who wanted to walk,
do everything on her own,
never carried,
always in her own direction.

Now, suddenly.
It's all about attachment.
And it's even worse for Larry then me.
She will not leave his side.
And she cries, screams and
completely melts down if she doesn't get her way.

And in public it's become 100% worse.
Keira wants to be held always
and forever.
Which isn't an easy thing considering
her rollie pollie thighs.

Obviously she's realized life is changing.
She might not know that it's a new baby,
but she's smart.
Hopefully her fascination with babies
will keep her from torturing her
little brother.

(fingers crossed!)

LOL

Thinks it's funny when...

Emma comes over to ask for something and she can tell my the tone in my voice when I say "what?", and then changes her question to "I love you!" and runs away. (smart girl)

We ask Ben to do something like "go pee" or "say the prayer" and he always responds with but I did it "yesterday".

Keira shakes her head yes or no, instead of saying it. She's such a mute.

Emma tempts Keira over to the tv and puts on her favorite show just so she can keep Keira away from the toys she's playing with.

Sydney has already decided she wants 2 kids and if her future husband won't compromise with her to maybe 3 kids THEN she won't marry him.

That even though there is only a 50% chance of Ben putting his shoes on the wrong feet he does it 95% of the time.

Keira gives kisses open mouthed and a little tongue.

when Sydney insists on wearing EVERYTHING blue to school just so she can call herself a blueberry.

Our Own Personal Recycling Machine

For 3 wks now we've been making due
without a working printer.

It has been baffling us by eating every
single piece of paper.

Frustrated, annoyed and simply pissed...

I got online with the printer company
and started a 1 hour chat
trying everything to get it to work.

I even went as far to take off one side
of the printer and
watched the printer...
once again...

EAT THE PAPER.

And to make things worse the company stated
we were past on the warranty coverage
and there wasn't anything they could do.

When Larry got home I broke the news.

He wasn't pleased either.
So he did this...

...took the printer apart more.

Screw by screw,
piece by piece.


And then brought me these...

And not 5 mins later,
brought me this.

Thank heavens Larry didn't give up like I did.

AND thank heavens we didn't ship this printer to
the manufacturer.
To only have them laugh their #!*(# off
when they found writing utensils shoved
down inside of it.

And thank heavens there's CPS to stop
me from shipping my kids to
Outer Mongolia.

Permission To Lie!

Today was just a normal day, except for another repetitive, routine trip to the Midwife. The usual listen to the heartbeat, check the size of the belly, talk about any concerns, blood pressure, yada yada. (you get the picture)

Until I asked my burning question...

Do you think I'll progress early like I did with my last baby?

Because as you might not remember, 1 month before Keira was born I was dialated to a 2. 3 wks ahead I was at a 3. And then when I came for my "routine" check up 2 weeks before they said I was a 4, totally effaced and ready to drop at any moment. Thus I had to rush the kids home, find someone to watch them and run back to have my water broken and Keira graced us with her presence 2 hours later.

And now for the good part.

Today they divulged that at a month before my due date they would pick a date to pop my water again, just so we could be a little more "prepared".

YES YES YES YES YES.

So for now. I have officially been given permission to lie about how far along I am. I will now tell everyone that I am 2 wks further along then I am.

27 wks down, 13 more to go

9 years

In the words of the great Mike Myers
from the movie "so i married an ax murder"...

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY,
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
(repeated 25 times)

And with 9 years into our married life I could help
but think about all that I had learned.

Marriage.


It's a commitment.
It fills us with security, a soft place to land,
being together to share highs and lows,
it will teach you about all of your strengths
and your flaws.
It should never be taken lightly.
Or used as the topic of a joke.

In turn Marriage will help you grow.
As you learn to put someone else first.
To be patient.
Control your emotions, and subdue your
natural instincts.
To love no matter what.
And that what you put in, you will get out of it...
100 fold.

Thank You Larry for a wonderful 9 years.

AND GOING!!

Ham Recipe

After searching the internet for a few different ways of cooking up a ham, I concocted by own version. And by crossing my fingers in hopes that it would be delicious I come up with this...

7lb Ham
-open up ham, chuck spice packet into trash, rub with salt & pepper and then whisk together
1/4 cup evoo and sage. rub onto ham. sit in fridge for 1 hour.

2hrs before eating:
heat oven 275, put ham in roasting pan and start cooking. make glaze now. in a sauce pan put 1 can of pineapple & juice, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup water. put on med high, stir until bubbly, then lower temp to med-low and simmer to reduce for 1 hour. stir every 10 mins.

1 hour before eating:
take ham out pour glaze over ham. every 15 mins baste.

This makes one delicious, scrumptious, tasty ham. Hot or cold!!

Tricky Rabbit

Our Easter Morning started out with
one tricky rabbit.
He had eaten our carrots we left out,
hidden our eggs around the house,
but where are the baskets?

That silly bunny gave us a map
and sent us on a treasure hunt.
#1 go out to the mail box

Found clue #2!!

What does it say Sydney?
"go to the piano"

Ben found clue #3
another map
"off to the kitchen..."

And what do you know
Emma found another map
in the freezer!

clue #4...go to the trampoline

Good thing Keira and Daddy were
there to reach up high for clue #5!
WOW, that bunny can jump!!

And now we are off to the car!
In the garage!!

Surprise! The Easter baskets!!

Full of goodies!!

Daddy and Ben even started up a game
of catch.

But we forgot!
Now that we have our baskets,
we can go find all the hidden eggs!

That hopping bunny even hid eggs
WAY UP HIGH!!

We had a wonderful Easter.
Full of fun, laughter and food.
The kids and I were very grateful
to have Daddy home from his scout
camp out to play with us and dye eggs.